A certain Hogwarts professor of runes.

I'm sure he'll like it, after all, I'm his best student!

Felix was becoming increasingly excited about starting his job.

Chapter 11 Onboarding

9 month 1 day.

The moment of joining the company.

Felix, being the lazy man he is, undoubtedly continued to use Floo Powder to arrive at the vice principal's office. He was wearing a bright green robe, his hair was neatly styled, and he was carrying a small briefcase as he walked out from the fireplace.

“Professor McGonagall,” Felix greeted her with a smile.

Professor McGonagall was busy organizing the day's events. She was in charge of the annual opening ceremony, which was arguably one of the busiest days of the year for her.

"Oh, thank goodness, you've finally arrived."

"What happened?" Felix asked.

"I need you to help me with some of the work."

“It’s my pleasure, ma’am,” Felix said with a flourish.

After Professor McGonagall assigned him a series of tasks, she hurriedly left, muttering things like, "Dumbledore never cares about these things... I have to do it all myself..." It seems she had a lot of complaints about the headmaster.

Felix examined the parchment in his hand with great interest. "Let me see. The first task, decorating the auditorium?"

Auditorium (Dining Hall).

Felix waved his wand, hung decorations around the walls, arranged four long tables neatly, and adjusted the spacing between each chair to the optimal level.

Next, let's talk about the weather above the auditorium.

“To be honest, I’ve wanted to play this for a while now,” Felix muttered, waving his wand.

The sky above the auditorium, which was originally at noon, suddenly became overcast, with thick black clouds hanging very low, as if they were about to touch your face at any moment.

Then, Felix continued to wave his wand, and the dense black clouds dispersed, revealing a large patch of eerie green light from the sky, making the entire Great Hall look like a cursed land...

"Whoosh." Felix was extremely pleased, and even conjured a giant snake. The snake, glowing green, opened its blood-red maw, and a ghastly green figure emerged from its mouth, its appearance and posture remarkably similar to a certain professor.

"Is this how you view the professor who has taught you for seven years, Felix?" Just as Felix was having fun, a sinister voice suddenly appeared.

Felix turned around and saw his Potions professor, Headmaster Snape, fluttering in the wind like a ghost.

Snape remained expressionless, his eyes as still as deep water, devoid of any emotional fluctuation. He slowly and deliberately spewed his venom, "Are you expressing your dissatisfaction with me? Or have you, three years out of college, filled your head with inappropriate Muggle ideas, becoming arrogant and conceited, causing you to lose your manners?"

"Ahem!" Felix was a little embarrassed; the person he was playing games had caught him!

To make matters worse, the long snake above his head lowered its head, and the pale green professor inside its mouth was writhing and swaying...

Felix waved his wand, turning the serpent into nothingness. He quickly composed himself, as if he had just met Professor Snape, first showing surprise, then strode forward and greeted Snape with utmost politeness.

"Professor, it's been three years. Your magic has become even more profound and mature."

Snape glanced at him expressionlessly, then slowly and deliberately mocked in a rhythmic tone: "Three years have passed, and you've certainly opened my eyes. If I hadn't taught you, I would have thought you were a stupid lion."

Felix wore an "awkward" expression, his eyes glancing "embarrassed" away, before suddenly looking "surprised" behind Snape. "Professor McGonagall, when did you arrive?"

Snape was startled and quickly turned around, only to find the corridor empty.

Turning around, she found Felix looking completely bewildered. "Huh? Did I just see things wrong?"

Snape was so angry he couldn't speak.

It's always like this.

This kid always found an excuse to escape since he was in school, cracking jokes and spouting nonsense, but Snape knew him well enough to know how dangerous this kid was.

In fact, he had a big argument with Dumbledore this morning when he learned that Felix was going to teach at Hogwarts School, and he had just come out of the headmaster's office.

Snape approached quietly and said in a voice only the two of them could hear, "Felix Heap—"

“You can call me Felix, Professor!” Felix interjected.

Snape: "..."

It's always like this! Always interrupting and cutting him off!

But what could be better than Snape's slow, deliberate speech, delivered in a tone that sounded like he was singing an aria? Others might have been intimidated by Snape's imposing presence and dared not interrupt, but Felix was far too familiar with him!

They knew him so well that they knew his most deeply hidden secrets!

Snape raised his voice: "Felix, I don't care what your purpose is in coming to Hogwarts, but I'll be keeping a close eye on you. If you're planning to use the students at Hogwarts to spread some dangerous ideas..."

"I am truly honored that you, Professor, have read my works!"

Snape was speechless for a moment.

“Professor McGonagall! What brings you here?” Felix suddenly turned his head and said.

"Don't try to be clever!" Snape said angrily, then sensed someone rapidly approaching from behind.

Emmm, this time it's for real... Felix quietly pointed behind him. Before Snape could turn around, he heard Professor McGonagall rushing over, her tone stern and impatient.

"Professor Snape, you've come at the right time. I have something to discuss with you."

So Professor Snape was pulled away by McGonagall, and Felix made a waving goodbye gesture, which earned him a fierce glare from Snape.

"Looks like the professor has a deep grudge against me," Felix muttered. "So what if I threatened you in the past? It's been years, and you still hold onto this grudge. How embarrassing."

Yes, Felix did threaten Snape. To be precise, this wasn't the first time the two had clashed openly and covertly during their time at school; it had been going on for seven years.

That's another long story.

In short, Felix continued tidying up the Great Hall, this time daring not to play around anymore. Waving his wand, he transformed the sky above the Great Hall into a dazzling starry sky. He deliberately magnified and brought some stars closer: a full moon as bright as a plate, Mars as red as a furnace, and Saturn, its yellowish-brown planet surrounded by rings of broken stars… In the distance, tiny, bright stars flickered and shone, adorning the Great Hall with breathtaking beauty.

"Excellent spell!" a shrill voice rang out. Felix looked up, then looked down again.

He smiled and said, "Professor Flitwick, hello!"

"Oh! Felix!" Professor Flitwick looked very excited; in fact, he was about to faint.

"A brilliant graduate of Hogwarts is back! That's wonderful! I still remember your outstanding performance in the NEWTs exam, perfect, absolutely perfect!"

Professor Flitwick was very excited. Despite his short stature, he was very emotional and had no prejudice against any of the colleges.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Professor!"

Chapter 12 Undeciphered Dialogue

Let's go back an hour.

Snape strode into the headmaster's office, his face tense, but it was easy to see that he was very annoyed.

"Headmaster! Headmaster Dumbledore!"

Dumbledore looked up from the table. "Ah, Severus, what's the matter?"

Snape stood in front of him, but instead of sitting down, he kicked aside the chair that was in his way. With the table between them, he angrily demanded, "You hired Felix Heap to teach at the school? What were you thinking!"

Dumbledore put down the book in his hand. "Severus, I don't see any problem. Mr. Hyp is outstanding. His talent is recognized throughout the wizarding world, including mine, of course."

Snape said impatiently, "I didn't say he wasn't capable! I taught him, I know what kind of person he is."

“Indeed, you once described him as ‘a model Slytherin’—a very high compliment,” Dumbledore said with a smile.

Snape's face darkened. "I wasn't praising him," he said, "it was sarcasm."

Dumbledore nodded. “We all know Mr. Hyp to some extent, and I know what you’re worried about. Since he’s going to teach at Hogwarts, this is a matter worth discussing. Let’s sit down and talk about it.” He waved his hand, bringing the chair back.

Snape sat down stiffly, as if he were sitting on a fire-breathing dragon instead of a cushion.

“Pumpkin juice? Tea? Or a butterbeer?” Dumbledore asked, and with each word he uttered, a cup appeared out of thin air.

“I don’t need it.” Snape was very blunt.

“Then here’s a cup of tea; Mr. Hyp likes it very much.” Dumbledore placed a cup of tea in front of Snape.

However, judging from Snape's appearance, it seems he swallowed a fly.

Dumbledore said gently, “Let’s talk this over. I also had some misunderstandings about Mr. Hyp in the past, but as he grew older, my opinion of him changed. Until recently, I had an in-depth conversation with him, and I finally made up my mind to hire him.”

"I think you're getting senile," Snape said sarcastically.

"Although I'm getting older, I've become more and more clear-headed over the years. Aren't we always more prone to making mistakes when we're young?"

Snape snorted and then said, "Felix is ​​no good. He takes advantage of his strength and does whatever he wants at school, causing a lot of trouble!"

"Do you know how I got through those years? Because of him, I got to know almost half of the pure-blood families in Britain!"

"I receive their complaint letters almost every day!"

Dumbledore seemed to chuckle, but he quickly covered his mouth and took a large gulp of pumpkin juice. He agreed, "Indeed, Mr. Hyp was obsessed with power in his early years, but we all know there's a reason for that, isn't there?"

Snape pursed his lips and remained silent.

He knew, of course, that Felix was in a bad situation, even worse than he had been back then, at least his enemies weren't from his own academy.

Dumbledore said calmly, “Minerva once complained to me that the Sorting Hat doesn’t accurately place students into the appropriate houses, and she always thought Mr. Hyp should go to Gryffindor. What do you think?”

"That kid is a typical Slytherin," Snape said in the same sarcastic tone he used back then.

“I agree with that.” Dumbledore nodded. “Mr. Hyp… he is a brilliant wizard, exceptionally brilliant, one of the most gifted I have ever seen in my life. I can see very clearly that he has always been pursuing power, even though he has rarely shown it since his fifth year, he has never stopped his pursuit of power.”

"This was true even after graduation, which was my biggest worry at the time."

Snape listened quietly. He did not deny Dumbledore's wisdom; the old man's experiences were legendary. He intended to hear first what had made him change his mind.

"He applied to stay at the university after graduation. To be honest, he was more than capable, and in the subject of magic alone, he was even better than I was back then. But I still refused, not only because he was too young, but also because of the ambition he couldn't hide in his eyes. I was afraid he would go astray."

"Fortunately, he took my advice. After his first year of travel, he settled in the Muggle world and began to study Muggles. It was during this time that we began to exchange letters."

Snape listened quietly, surprised by their shared history. After all, when he learned Felix had become a Muggle studies expert, his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets!

"Maybe he's faking it," Snape retorted reluctantly.

“No, no, Severus,” Dumbledore retorted. “I can read people’s minds. That’s one of the advantages of living a long life. Even without magic, I can know what most people are thinking.”

"From the time he enrolled until now, he has not shown any discrimination against Muggles. On the contrary, he has a very deep understanding of the Muggle world, which is clearly evidenced in his books. He does not think that wizards are superior. On the contrary, he is constantly drawing wisdom from the Muggle world."

Snape retorted, "I didn't say he was prejudiced against Muggles, Dumbledore! But his thoughts are equally dangerous. Do you know what he said in his book, 'How Muggles Think'?"

He recited a passage quickly, as if reciting from a memorized text: "The theory of bloodline is also prevalent in the Muggle world, but unlike the magical world, more and more Muggle countries are abandoning this theory, thanks to their production efficiency being hundreds or thousands of times higher than before. Abundant resources have laid a solid foundation for their promotion of education, while those commoners who do not have superior bloodlines have shown extremely exaggerated potential, making the development speed of the Muggle world like riding a flying broom."